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Yes, I am talking about this deck archetype all over again. Innistrad introduced Vampires as one of its themes so you can’t blame me. Blame Kibler instead, just kidding. The archetype is obviously aggro though as what I see is it can be made midrange-ish, because of high casting critters like Bloodline Keeper and the Vaasgoth bloodlord.

Anyway, here is the list I came up with:

BR Vamps by Mark Ian Alloso
Lands
1 Stensia Bloodhall
9 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit

Creatures
2 Blood Seeker
4 Vampire Interloper
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Bloodline Keeper
4 Rakish Heir
1 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
4 Falkenrath Marauders
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge

Spells
3 Doom Blade
2 Arc Trail
3 Incinerate
1 Traitorous Blood
2 Tezzeret’s Gambit
2 Brimstone Volley
1 Tumble Magnet

I partially based the list on a recent States top 8 deck. It may look rough but here are a few things that I considered.

Evasion – this is achieved by the Stromkirk Noble, Vampire Interloper and Falkenrath Marauders. Stromkirk Noble is obviously the best one-drop for the deck can deal lots of damage early when supported by Arc Trails and other spot removals.

Power boost – done by Rakish Heir and (slightly) by the gambits’ proliferate. The good thing is that the nobles and the marauders pump on their own so the Heir is basically a bonus.

Additional damage – is supported by Blood Seeker and Hero of Oxid Ridge. I’ve chosen the seeker as the other two drop since tokens is a very popular archetype lately and the seeker is a big nuisance to them. In addition, the hero can push in large attacks and messes up 1/1 token blocks.

Late game burn finish – done by burn spells and Stensia Bloodhall. Traitorous Blood can act like one too.

You might notice some one-ofs and those are for specific matchups and might seemingly work well. Tumble Magnet is probably my best trump against Wurmcoil Engine as you would not really want to kill it. I’m still considering replacing Arc Trail with an instant burn like Shock or Galvanic Blast as against Wolf Run Ramp, having Inkmoth Nexuses as their win condition.

As for the sideboard, it will look like this (again, an initial list):

2 Tribute to Hunger – against Thrun and Geist of Saint Traft.

3 Ratchet Bomb – for tokens and Tempered Steel

1 Doom Blade – for curving of spot removals, replacing a burn spell.

1 Memoricide – probably for control to rfg Sun Titan.

2 Surgical Extraction – same purpose as Memoricide and used to trump flashback tricks of Snapcaster Mage.

3 Manic Vandal & 1 Shatter – artifact hate support.

1 Blood Seeker – for additional token nuisance.

1 Traitorous Blood – sideboarded against fatties.

Other cards I would consider to sideboard are: Olivia Voldaren, Go for the Throat for Grave Titan, discards like Despise or Mind Rot perhaps. That’ll depend, but I’d still maintain the mana curve below six casting cost.

No sideboard in and outs yet so it is for you to test and adjust to your preference. I’m hoping and I’m pretty sure Dark Ascension can provide more goodies for the deck to improve. As for the moment, just see the list above.

Until next time, see ya..